Shelter
by rogueop452
Summary: One shot in memoriam to Nick, who might be gone but is far from forgotten.


**A.N.** I do not own Secret Circle or any of these characters.

**In memoriam to Nick...I highly suggest finding 'Shelter' by Birdy on youtube (a cover of the original by The xx) and listening to it while reading this...It makes it that much better :)**

It was raining and Melissa was depressed, but the change in weather wasn't the source of her depression...it centered more around the people in her life, or lack thereof...

It seemed like everyone in the Circle had someone they could talk to, someone who understood them, at times more than they even understood themselves. Faye used to be that someone she would go to. She was her best friend, and had always been there for her. But the dynamics of their friendship changed the day Cassie Blake moved to Chance Harbor. Her arrival screwed up everything in her life. She took her closest friend away from her. They were together and they had each other to lean on now. But whatever, that was fine, she told herself as she parked her car on the shoulder of the road. It didn't really matter anyway. Nothing did. Not without him.

She turned off the engine but left her keys and purse inside and strode straight towards the woods with a purpose. She knew exactly where she was going and what she needed to do, so she wouldn't have to feel so alone anymore. It was raining pretty heavily and without a jacket or umbrella, her shirt and jeans were already getting soaked through to her skin. Normally she would be shivering, but she wasn't even feeling the cold. In fact, she wasn't feeling much of anything...she was numb inside. She'd never felt this numb before.

Instead of weaving her way around the thick undergrowth Melissa chose to go right through the middle of it, unconcerned that the sharp thorny branches were tearing at her clothing and flesh. She made it to the other side and onto the well worn path a lot quicker than she would have if she'd gone the way she usually went. Not that she was in a hurry; it was that she wanted to take the more difficult way this time. Because it was the one he always chose.

Once she passed through the bushes she followed the pathway at the edge of the clearing, and walked in the direction of the abandoned house...slowly at first due to the wet and slippery ground. She didn't want to fall, but not because she didn't want her clothes to get muddy, she didn't care about that. She didn't want to fall because she didn't want to seem like a klutz, especially not now. Not when he might be watching.

A flash of lightning overhead caught her attention and she glanced up into the darkening sky. It wasn't anywhere near nightfall but the storm made it seem as if it were. Melissa jumped and almost fell, but caught herself before she did when she heard the thunder. And then she heard deep laughter mixed in with it. It was faint, so faint that she thought she could have imagined it. Her heart quickened at the slight hope that it could be real.

She picked up her pace when she was back under the trees. The dead leaves and broken twigs underfoot offering her a firmer ground, it didn't take long before she made it to her shelter. The moment she stepped inside she rushed upstairs to his favorite room. It was the place he was always the happiest, mixing his magical potions. She'd been coming here a lot since that night. The memories were the strongest here, so strong that she could swear she had caught a glimpse of him on occasions just such as this...with the rain coming down in torrents through the large hole in the roof, and the wind picking up so hard and fast it whistled through the broken windows creating a dramatically eerie atmosphere. It was never anything definite, always just a hint of his presence. But it was enough.

She needed that now. She needed that so badly it hurt. She needed proof that he was here for her. This would be her deciding factor. If he was watching her, if he could even sense that she was close by, he would know what she wanted from him. And if he had ever loved her, he'd give her this one small thing. That's all it would take…This one small thing…And if he couldn't give at least that to her than she didn't know how she could go on.

A flash of lightning lit up the room, quickly followed by a loud crack of thunder. Melissa barely even flinched this time. She moved to the center of the room and looked up, saw the black clouds forming overhead, saw the next blinding, brilliant flash of lightning, felt the air around her come alive and the floor boards shake when it struck the house. The crash of thunder was tremendous. She could feel her heart beating faster in anticipation when she sensed that he might be near. So this was where she would wait for him, with the rain pouring down on her in torrents and the wind whistling around her. She would wait for him however long it would take. She wouldn't give up hope because she knew that Nick had loved her. He'd loved her so much he'd given his life for her and he'd find a way to come back to her and prove it, she just knew it.


End file.
